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4/20/20153 How to write minutes… What? Minutes are a record of what took place @ a meeting, i.e. decisions & actions. Records of meetings Accuracy & approval of minutes from previous meeting = always one of the 1 st items of business. In some organization, approved minutes should b signed by Chairperson. The Secretary keeps the signed copy for the org files.

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4/20/20154 How ? … 1.Don’t write everything, just main points of a discussion, decisions & actions. 2.Produce rough notes after meeting & check with Chairperson. 3.Give each item separate heading, ensure the minutes follow same order as the agenda. 4.Write minutes in a consistent style. 5.Retain copies of minutes in a file for future reference.

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4/20/20155 Minute’s content.. Decisions made; Who proposed & supported items for decision; The result of votes (  in favor, against, and abstentions); Actions agreed; Those given responsibility 2 carry out the action & when.

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4/20/20158 What 2 do if unsure… If the minute writer is unsure of a decision or action, they should ask for the Chairperson’s clarification.

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4/20/20159 Consistency.. Should be written in a consistent style. This is the responsibility of the secretary; good minutes will help your organization make decisions.

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4/20/201510 Styles of minutes Considered formal public documents → should be written using business-like language, which is: –Clear –Concise –Simple Contoh format, lihat handout*

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Letter Format Your Name Your address City, State Zip Code Feel free to be creative with this: consider noting your name on the top or left column similar to company letterhead (see examples) [one line of space] Date [three lines of space] Name/Title Name of Organization Street Address City, State Zip 4/20/201511

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4/20/201512 [one line of space] Salutation: [one line of space] Opening Body Close Don’t indent, one line between each [one line of space] Complimentary Closing, [four lines of space] Type Name [one line of space] Enclosures: (specify documents and page total)

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4/20/201514 Good Letter Structure Major sections *: Heading : your name, address, telephone, email address (2 spaces) Date : (2 spaces) Inside Address : Name, Title, Department/Office (if applicable), Street/Office Address, City, State, Zip of person letter is written to. (2 spaces) Dear (Mr., Mrs., Mrs. or Dr. last name), only use first name if Salutation correct salutation not known) As a last resort, use “To whom It May Concern,” “Hiring Manager, ” or “Corporate Recruiter” but this is not recommended. Body of letter includes 3 separate, distinct paragraphs. Closing : Sincerely, your first and last name Bottom : “enclosure” (Encl.) or “attachment” (Attach.) *center text from bottom to top

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4/20/201515 "Memo writing is technical writing with its sleeves rolled up." A memo is a no-nonsense professional document, designed to be –read quickly and –passed along rapidly, often within a company or work group. E-mail messages are by far the most common form of memo

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4/20/201516 Memo… Most memos are characteristically brief, but they should follow the other principles of good technical writing as well: –know your audience, –be clear, and –be accurate.

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4/20/201518 Quick communication… While a memo generally requests or delivers a quick response to a specific question, it may also be a compact version of a –short report,short report –progress report, orprogress report –lab report. lab report Section titles may appear awkward in a very short memo, they allow your readers to scan efficiently &respond quickly.

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4/20/201519 No mistakes please… Memos are often routed, posted, and forwarded, which means they can reach a lot of people quickly, so Effects of careless mistakes compound quickly, since they tend to generate even more memos asking for clarification. Memos also get filed, which means they can come back to haunt you later. In fact, "memo" comes from the Latin memorandum, "a thing which must be remembered."

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4/20/201520 Memo: Header The header is a compact block of information at the top of a memo. Different offices may prefer different layouts, but in general you should use an arrangement like the following: Date : January 24, 1998 To : F. Prefect From : A. Dent cc `: T. MacMillan Z. Beeblebrox bcc : D. Adams Subject: My Suggested Revisions to the Local Demo- lition Schedule (should be informative!)

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4/20/201521 Memo: 1. Subject Annual Report (Too vague) Annual Report Cover Artwork (A little more precise, but there could be many other memos on this same topic) Cost Estimate for Annual Report Cover Artwork Emergency Revisions to Annual Report Cover Artwork The first two examples are unacceptable because they only state a topic, but the last two are more informative because they also identify the focus -- the particular relationship of this memo to the general topic.

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4/20/201522 Memo: 2. Purpose Immediately state your reason for writing. Answer the journalist's questions: who, what, when, where, and why, e.g: Mr. Howard has asked me to arrange a working lunch for all members of the writing staff, at the main office, sometime before the end of the month. The purpose of this memo is to request authorization to purchase a sound card and a modem for the computer in the front office. This memo confirms the details of your tour of the new processing plant, as we discussed over the telephone this morning.

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4/20/201523 Memo: 3. Summary The summary should do more than describe the contents of the memo, it should be a miniature version of the memo. A technical document is not a mystery novel, so put all your important information up front.

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4/20/201524 Memo: 3. Summary Wrong: This memo confirms the plans made during the writing staff's working lunch with Mr. Howard. It describes the proposed changes to the Greenfield Power proposal, and explains the procedure by which employees may voice their own opinions. (This passage merely describes the organization of the memo. It does not actually summarize the contents.) Right: During last week's working lunch, Mr. Howard asked the the writing staff to consider two major changes to the Greenfield Power proposal: 1) invite the governor to write a letter of introduction, 2) transpose sections four and five. Mr. Howard will hold an open meeting next Friday at 12, in conference room 2, in order to solicit employee feedback. (Some readers, satisfied with the summary, might stop reading here. If so, you have done your job well.)

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4/20/201525 Memo: 4. Discussion Since your memo may be pulled from a file years from now, your discussion section should include sufficient background information. The background may include the names and titles of the people involved, or the dates of earlier memos related to the one you are writing. The rest of the section should expand on and support all the points you made in your summary. –Employ subheadings similar to those found in larger technical documents: situation, problem, solution, evaluation. situation, problem, solution, evaluation –Label these subsections. –Choose to arrange the discussion chronologically, from more important to less important, or from the general to the specific. Whatever rhetorical pattern you choose.more important to less importantrhetorical pattern Follow these general pointers: –Start with the old information and work carefully towards the new. –Give your reader a sense of the big picture before you zero in on the individual parts.

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4/20/201526 Discussion: direct & simple! Use active verbs. Use the pronoun "I" when you are talking about your work. Simplify your language. Instead of "somewhere in the proximity of," write "near". Instead of "at this point in time," write "now." Avoid puffing up your writing to make yourself appear more important.

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4/20/201527 Memo: 5. Action generating.. Unless the purpose of the memo is simply to inform, you should finish with a clear call for action. Who should do what, and how long do they have to do it? You may need to include alternatives, in the event that your readers disagree with you. Be polite when you ask others to do work for you, especially when they are not under your supervision. You may wish to mention the actions that you plan to take next, and what your deadlines are, so your reader can gauge how important the project is to you. A canned conclusion such as "If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at 555-1234" is too vague for a statement of action.